Worlds Apart

AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME...

2011-07-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

“The Two Shall Become One.” Almost eight years ago we asked you (unless we didn’t have the pleasure of knowing you yet) to join us as we celebrated our marriage. Well, we now ask that you join us as we celebrate the next big chapter as, “The Two Shall Become…. THREE!!!”

Yes, we are proud to say that our family will soon be expanding. This little bambino is due to arrive around February 3^rd, 2012. We look forward to meeting another one of God’s lil masterpieces and are honored that he has entrusted us at this point in our journey to raise this little gift. In case you are wondering about baby W… be it an X or Y? Put on your patient pants with us, as we also plan on being surprised the day baby chooses his/her birthday.

2011-06-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK

My new favorite place on earth
and by far the coolest job I've ever had!

Left: Me giving a program at Hidden Valley
Right: The Secretary of the Interior came to visit

Ranger Rhianon and Corpsman Heath
A two uniform family :)

I'm introducing Heath to Ken Salazar,
my biggest boss next to the president.
(And telling him that JTNP has a sweet education program
and to keep the military spousal hire because it rocks!)

I forgot I am no longer a kid...

2011-05-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

I've Always Loved Air!...

My best friend from childhood, Jake, and I drove up to Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort, for my birthday weekend. While skiing and pretending to be a teen again, I spent a little too much time in the air and found a hard flat landing. With the speed and height I came down on the ground with, my heels just could not take the impact. I didn’t get ski patrol to take me down in a sled; instead, I painfully skied down myself. Jake was a huge help that weekend, as I could not stand at all. Rhianon took me to the ER when I got home. I could not have made it through all of this without her, I am so grateful! Now, 4½ months out from the injury, I can say I’m mostly all heeled.

I broke both of my heels, and partially tore my Achilles Tendons.

I also won the grand prize of a wheel chair for the following

two months, crutches for one, and a whole lot of pain.

Condo in Oceanside

2011-04-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

It SOLD!

We spend many weekends and many hours working on
our home preparing to put it on the market.

After only 3 weeks on the market we were in Escro!
It is a huge relief to be home-free :)

TWENTY TEN

2011-04-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

Tons of travels, trials, and transitions.
A tremendous thanks to those terrific, trusted travelers who's time, tears, treats, and thoughtfulness took us through some terrific, tough and trying times.
Treasuring all of you!

New Years: Goodbye Guam

January: Time to Travel

Australia and Palau

February-March: The Great Lakes

Dive School in Chicago
Heath's 30th Birthday: Rubics Surprise

April: On the Move Again

Moving to the Mojave Desert
Thill Family Reunion in Kentucky

May: Rachel Graduating Law School

Ma and Pa made it possible for me to be there to celebrate!

June: Catching Up With My Girlies

Meeting Jada, Holly's sweet little girl
Good times with the Lovely Lisa

July: ALASKA BABY!

Mama Millers gift to us kiddos

I Heart Family!

Hookin up with the Alaskan Crew
Saying goodbye to my biggest buddy :(

August- September I have the COOLEST job ever!

At the grave of "last gunfight of the Wild West"
Heath hiking with his bro Cascade Mountains

October: My Sissy's First Baby!!!

Rachel as beautiful as ever!
Bonding with my new nephew!

November: No Fun at all... BIG time drama with the HOA for our condo in Oceanside (beginning the long treacherous process of preparing to put it on the market)

December: The Holidays

Ended the year with a wonderful visit from the "Other Wilhoit's"

Last Days on Guam

2010-03-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

Typhoon Season:

We survived many Typhoons that were headed right for us, they all skirted by. Usually pelting us with some the monsoon tails, pelting us with strong wind and rain. We lived with the Typhoon shutters up for most of our last Typhoon season on Guam.

Rhianon's Job:

I taught middle school science my first year, art my second and did not teach at the school for a third year, as we were scheduled to possibly move in the fall. So, I worked as a ceramics instructor part time at a Historic Inalajan. It was great to stay connected with students as well as be creative with clay.

Preparing to Move:

We received orders in November, sorted and lightened our load throughout December, spent the holidays with our Chamorro family, and packed out our house the first week of January. Leaving six bags of the possible items we would need for the next 6 months. Our plans were to vacation in January to Palau and Australia, travel back to the states, Michigan, Chicago, Florida and then on to San Diego.

Saying Goodbye:

One of the hardest parts of having a job that takes you around the world is falling in love with the people along the way, (who really become family) and then having to say goodbye. Leaving always tears apart and leaves behind pieces of our hearts. We will miss our peeps in Guam immensely and look forward to returning someday!

Typhoon Choi-Wan (15W)

2009-09-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

The typhoon is headed for just north of one of our neighbor islands, Saipan. We have power and currently sunshine, but expect to get a lot of rain and wind. Thanks for tuning in. You can keep on storm watch here.

Tropical Storm Headed Right For Us

2009-09-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

I know it has been forever since I have posted... Power is out island-wide, I am with Heath at the Naval Hospital, (running on generators) they restrict which sites we can access (no personal email, facebook, etc.) so I will communicate here for now.

There is currently a tropical depression just east of us, headed straight toward Saipan and Tinian, about 100 miles North of us. Right now they say that it could turn into a Typhoon in the next 12-24 hours, just as it hits our island chain. Here on Guam and the fourth of the Mariana islands, Rota, will be under tropical sorm conditions, very strong winds and heavy rain. If the cyclone stays on the projected path, we should expect the worst winds on the west side of the island. (we live on the east coast)

We will still need to be typhoon ready as these storms seem to have minds of thier own. We have a lot to do to be storm ready. Besides putting up the typhoon shutters we need to bring in everything from outside. Being that there is currently no power, we will be unable to wash the laundry and make ice, but worse, we will be unable to gas our cars, mine is on empty (oooopps!) What we will need to do is prepare for power to be out possibly for months, so stock up on food and ice, and tons, I mean TONS of water. Clean out the trash cans and fill them with water. We will need water for the toilets and oh man, can you imagine showering out of a bucket or out in the rain? I am expecting the markets to be packed and shelves empty. I do not know what the phone situation will be like, currently my cell phone and land lines work. We will see after tomorrow evening. Am I missing anything? Maybe I should google typhoon readiness.

What this means for Heath and I, he has to report to the hospital and ride out the storm here until the storm is over. He will then be released, by those who ride out the storm at home, and be available to help me clean up any damage done and strewn debris. I probably could stay with someone durring the storm, but I think I would like to be home, towels in hand and muscles ready to prop up furniture if needed, all by candle light... I know you want to join me.

I am unsure if I will be able to update anytime soon. I will let Heath know he can access this site here and maybe he can give an update durring or after the storm if they still have internet. Otherwise, track our adventure along with us at: http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/guamloops/guamircolor.html

For more information google guam weather, the first link is the best. If links above don't work go to www.goes.noaa.gov click on satellite along the side and then something like color loop for the best picture of the storm... black inside spinning red is the worst. Pray for us... I am kinda giddy with adrenalin and a bit excited... is that bad?

Sledding on Guam

2009-02-06T03:37:00.000-08:00

It is true, we are jealous of all you all who get to play in the snow. But guess what, we make our own fun here too! So there! Bet you all will be jealous of us now. :)

After church our friends hooked us up with this extreme grassy/snorkel/kayaking adventure. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! The boys sledding are way cutter than us, but us ladies sled with the best of them. My favorite is hearing the boys talk about the benefits of our sledding "gear."

(Hope this is more interesting to some of you than wood floors... uh um... Lisa...
But while we are at it here is the video for those of you who are interested in the installing of our new floors and the finished floors)

New Year, New Floors

2009-01-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

While the economy is bad and prices are low, and we have amazing tenants in CA we really want to keep, and we could write off our plane ticket home (and more) if we stopped in CA to check on our Condo... we decided to redo our flooring. We had them take out the cracking tile and nasty carpet and put in pergo wood flooring. I think it looks amazing! Our tenants took the pics so I thought I would share them with you all here! I love it!

Our cute little kitchen
The main living space

The Lovely Stairs!

Skydive Surprise

2008-10-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

Do I have the coolest wife or what?!

I couldn't have been more surprised with my wifes planning... from scamming with my boss to get out early on a Friday, to dressin up all pretty and pink, to throwing me off by setting up a picnic with a view under a huge tree, my wife planned one of the coolest surprises ever. When she first told me we were going to jump out of a plane it took her the entire drive to convince me we were actually jumping out of a plane that day. In less than an hour later we arrived, had a 5 minute safety briefing, climbed into our gear and we were off enjoying the flight of our lives!

It was an anniversary I will never forget.

Happy Suprise Heath... I love you!
Cheers to 5 more adventurous years!

Art Goodies

2008-07-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! It is almost 2 am and I can't sleep, so thought I would get this out there in hopes that my brain will slow down a little bit.

There is a huge possibility that I will be teaching art this year (things can change up until the minute I begin though) So, I want to be prepared for either art or science.

I have not checked out the art supplies (the Attorney General has condemned the art room so it is currently under construction) but I heard there is not much at all and there is definitely no $$ (I mean I still might not have air condition!) So, I am planning on starting from scratch. I can attempt to collect a small supply fee from the students so that will help. But if anyone has anything laying around and would like to donate it, I would be glad to take it off your hands and promise it will go to great use.

Right now I am in search of art prints (from famous artists or time periods... ex. Monet or Surrealism, etc.) If anyone has old calendars or posters, or finds any on clearance, please let me know! I have in the past focused on:

Early Art: Primitive, Folk, Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance. Realism, Impressionism

20th Century: Cubism, Fauvism, Abstract, Surrealism, Non-Objective, Pop Art

As far as supplies, I usually try to teach with a variety of mediums (tempera and watercolor paint, chalk, oil pastels, colored pencil, marker, drawing pencils, colored paper, anything 3-D)

So, there it is. If anyone has anything or knows where I would be able to order it for a good price let me know (oh yeah, everything is expensive out in town.) Thanks so much.

Missing you all,
Rhianon

9 New Posts

2008-07-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

I am playing catch up this summer vacation...
Enjoy some of the highlights from the past few months below.

What's the Catch?

2008-07-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

Spear Fishing... at night... believe it!

This IS Heath and Chase we are talking about.

Heath, Chase and our friend Phil went fishing the other night and came home with this... not exactly dinner.

Guam has had a huge problem with Brown Tree Snakes, they are an exotic species that hitched a ride over on a plane and have no predators here so are a problem all over the island and have sadly wiped out most of the bird species and who knows what else (just not the chickens.)

He is really over 6ft long!

I really wanted to keep it... I mean look how beautiful it is!

But if it were to ever get loose and back out in the jungle, I would not be helping out the biodiversity of Guam now would I!?

Last night just Heath and Chase went out and this is what Chase got... wow!
It is a Parrot Fish... isn't it beautiful!

Can't wait to eat him... they are really delicious!
They have also seen sea turtles and huge blow fish... and tons more, that is all they tell me.

Caving on Nimitz Hill

2008-07-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

(Rhianon, Phil, Chase, Heath)
We had a blast! I can't get over how much fun this was!

We can't wait to check out more caves here!

Naval Hospital Birthday

2008-07-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

We don't have many pics of us lately... so here are a few from the ball.

Livin' the Life!

2008-07-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

While Micheal was here, he and Heath and our downstairs housemate, Phil, decided to cut down an old coconut tree and hang a lovely hammock! It seems just too good to be true!

Truly Living the Life!

Party in the Front Yard

2008-07-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Our friends daughter, Marina, was having her first holy communion so we hosted it in our front yard.

The guys carried down the tent from the Mayors house. There was tons of food, the kids (this includes Heath) had a blast in the bounce house.

Such a sweet and beautiful girl!

Making of Our Surfboard:Part 1

2008-07-10T06:01:00.000-07:00

At new moon (less bugs to infest the wood) Heath goes out to harvest as much usable Pago wood as possible. It then sits on our porch to dry before he strips it of the bark and shaves off the curves. It then comes inside the house so it does not mold or get bugs. There is still tons of harvesting to do!

Tasha's Visit

2008-07-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

My new friend Tasha came out for a vacation... had a great time and I talked her ear off... I didn't realize how much I needed to talk to someone from back home about life here. She was a huge blessing! Thanks for making the trip Tasha!

Cocos Crossing

2008-07-10T03:40:00.000-07:00

On May 25, we joined 136 people from all over the world for the International Coco's Crossing Swim Race. We took a ferry over to Coco's island and swam home. The swim was 2.5 forever miles and the water was choppy but clear... We all were able to finish the race in under 2 hours with no major problems, just a lot of choking on the waves. Our pic of "team drown" is below.

Chris (Heath's coworker) 1:17, Rhianon 1:28, Heath 1:17, Michael (Heath's brother)1:08 and our friend Phil 1:37.

That is Cocos from Guam... forever away!

Spring Break

2008-07-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

Nina and I had fun my first day of break!
We climbed and picked breadfruit from the huge tree, this was not an easy task. We were planning on making it for family dinner. We then picked Calamancies (shown below... I made juice.. it is kinda like lemon/tangerine juice) We also checked out many other things in her wonderful garden of a yard, makes our yard look pretty lame.
After a productive morning we refreshed ourselves in the shade... ahhh

Calamanci Juice from Nina's tree

Caribou are icons on Guam

Diving at Fish Eye

Heath surfing at Boat Basin ... too dangerous for me
(notice our statue of liberty in the background)

Out for sushi

Last Day To Play

2008-06-13T00:35:00.000-07:00

I am posting the last video for the Miller Family Vacation, we had fun jumping off turtle rock and taking pictures at Jeff's Pirates Cove.

They left yesterday afternoon and arrived in Michigan a few hours ago. We had a great time and can't wait until the next time we are all together. (Hopefully, next time with Brandon and Whitney too!)

If you would like to see more of our vacation check out Russ and Amy's blog for more video slide shows.

Family Fun Shots

2008-06-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

Family Photo

2008-06-08T04:34:00.000-07:00

Visitors!

2008-06-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hafa Adai Everyone!

We have been having a blast with our families out here... We have been keeping so busy I don't have it in me to give a good long creative colorful update... so I will send you to their fantastic blogs. They are staying up to date much better than we have been able to.

Heath has been able to take vacation for most of the time our families have been here, I was only able to take 2 days off, but am now on summer vacation.... whooohoooo!!!!

Here's the schedule.... Heaths brother Michael was here 2 weeks and left on Thursday, I finished school on Friday, we hosted a going away party for Heath's boss and his wife on Saturday and my family came arrived Sunday and will be here until June 12th.

Check their links below or to the right...

Michael was out here the last two weeks of May (Rachel was out here for one week during that time before she took off for China)

Russ and Amy have posted slide shows of each of the days so far on their blog. The entire Miller family (minus Chase's girlfriend Whitney and Rachel's boyfriend Brandon...whom we greatly miss!!!!!) have been living up the tropical dream with us since June 1st.

MAYBE THE EARTH IS FLAT

2008-04-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Many who know us back home may have begun to question if the world really is in fact...flat... If so it must drop into space just beyond the pacific. We would not be surprised or offended if that is what you think, and we know that true friends will still love and accept us despite our terrible absence... from our blog, email, phone, even birthday calls, and other wonderful things, etc. (That was not totally meant to manipulate you but remind you that you still love us even when we are completely distant ;) And we are thankful for that)

CONGRATS!

Before I give the boring update or excuses why... I must share the most exciting news in our lives... We are finally going to be an auntie and uncle!!!!! That's right if you haven't checked out Russ and Amy's blog they are going to expand the Miller family even more!!!! We are soooo excited! On top of keeping in touch over here, this is going to by far be the hardest part of being so far away!!!! Who knows when I will be able to hold and smell and kiss this little ones cheeks! I don't even want to think about that right now (I already miss my friends little ones like crazy... I can't imagine how much I will miss this one!) Happy thoughts... I need to think happy thoughts!... I am back... phew... OK, so, I will be able to see Amy pregnant in a couple months which I am stoked about... I love seeing my girls about to pop.

VISITORS

So that brings me into my next highlight in our lives... visitors! Here is the line-up... I have a friend who was here last weekend, Heaths brother and his wife will be here the end of may and my family (right now 6 1/2... I am hoping all 8 1/2) come in June, and my little bro will stay all summer! It will be so nice to have people around that know and love us!

FAMILY HERE

I know I have mentioned our Chamorro family here on our blog and have shared more specifically with those of you we have talked to. I would like to share a little more here how wonderful it is to be adopted by a local family. They keep us very busy! And extremely well fed! We just celebrated our 1 year anniversary as part of the family last Month. Can you believe it? We have been on Guam 1 year and almost 3 months already. It has gone so fast.

Anyway, every weekend we have family dinner, and from November on we were so busy with holidays and then in January, our "brother" Joel got married so that kept us very busy for a while. It was great to be a part of a Chamorro wedding! The family did everything including all the food and there were thousands of people, the reception was held in a gym which was packed and people were even crowded around the outside of the building! Two bands played taking turns all evening and then after everyone left it was clean up time, which again the whole family was there helping. It was a beautiful day!

(February disappeared)
MARCH AND APRIL

For Heath's birthday we had our first big big gathering here at our place... I was so nervous to host that many people, (and we pulled if off very last minute) but the beautiful thing about family gatherings is everyone brings a dish (or a few) and the aunties took over helping and putting it together. Which they said they loved watching me in the middle of it all in my indoor kitchen, with out the "necessary" utensils for this size gathering. I think I know what I am getting next year for Christmas :) It turned out wonderful and we had tons of food left over, even after everyone "balutoned" (that we learned is required when you eat at any gathering... you must pack plates of food to go- baluton)

HEATH

Heath has had his evaluation and for a while was studying constantly for his advancement test. He also took placement tests and is getting set up to take classes online to finish his degree.
His newest project is to build a surf board out of a light local wood. So, he harvested a bunch of wood during the last new moon and it has been drying out. Just today he has begun to strip its bark and prep it. We will have to document along the way. Right now I need to go snap some pics. He is so excited about this!

RHIANON

I have been swamped with school and am way more stressed than I imagined this job to be! Our school just had an accreditation team from the states come out, and we are now prepping the school for the attorney general to check us for health and safety issues. They come unannounced and have already shut down many schools on island. I desperately want to finish out the year and get out on time so I can have my summer. So we are busing our tails in hopes we pass. Because of this, maintenance is jumping on my requests to take care of the rat problem and the 1st day we caught 3 rats in my room/storage. Next, we have to figure out what to do with old chemicals and very old specimens from the 70's... like, starfish, squid, some kind of hearts and other buckets-o-fun for dissecting. I already cleaned the science storage room, organizing and trashing things from way back when it was a high school... Big job!

My air con went out February 1st so I have been teaching in the 80 degree heat with loud fans to yell over and distractions galore with the windows wide open... We have been miserable, but there is no money to repair them... I am looking into what it would take to pay it myself, just for my own comfort. There have been many other struggles to overcome... lately, I have been begging God for grace and have learned a lot about what I can and can not handle.

On a much more positive note... the island has major trash issues and have begun to implement recycling aluminum at the schools... as a science teacher this has been a great avenue to educate and share my passion about caring for the environment. So, as a science project, I required students to work together with their family's and recycle 500 cans per quarter. In about 6 months worth of time we have filled the bin 11 times! The island just filled the limit for sending it to the recycling plant in CA and will be bringing in something like $18,000 for the schools... so we should be getting our $1600 soon. I am so proud of my students! We have filled the bin more than any of the middle schools! Go IMS! Now if we could just make it easier and possible as well as teach the value of recycling more items. I have seen people fighting the concept and on the flip, have been so proud of those who are embracing this and are open to changing. I will continue to cheer even if only one hears... "Go Green Guam!"

We are busy, life has been heavy and I often find myself living for the next thing... the days end... air condition... the weekend... the summer... the next adventure... But my dad reminded me today that Grandpa Miller always used to say, "Don't wish your life away." Thanks for that wisdom.

Please excuse my grammar and wordy-ness. This is a rough sketch of our life, I just wanted to get this out and haven't the time or mind power to review it. Thanks!

We love and miss you all terribly!

Our First Christmas... Just the 2 of Us

2007-12-25T17:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T23:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve we celebrated Christmas with the family that adopted Heath and I. We were even in on the gift exchange and there were lots of jokes about us hyphenating our last name. They really have welcomed us in as their own. Though we miss our family and friends back home dearly, we are blessed to have people here to spend the holidays with. We felt so loved by the gifts they gave us!

After tons of great food, cousin BJ's amazing dance group performed for the family... Auntie Bic Bic is part one of the dancers so they encouraged her get up an join them... she is in the purple. We just think this little guy in the front is so cute! And the little girls with garland, plumerias and coconuts... truly a tropical Christmas.

I just love watching the cute mother dancers perform... they have such grace and elegance and their smiles just beam... it is beautiful!

I think the teens had fun with this one!

And the grand finale dance these ladies choose men from the family to join them... one of the cousins choose Heath... it was a hoot! They were hilarious, all of the guys were funny especially the Uncles... they really got into it.

Heath was my favorite though... he was great at cheezing it up too!

Christmas Eve's Eve

2007-12-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

As Santa's helpers this year, we dressed up and passed out treats to the children for the mayor of our village (our adopted Chamorro family)

My Birthday Dive

2007-12-19T21:42:00.000-08:00

Picture 4 is a Starfish (pillow-like)
Picture 5 is a Lion fish (poisonous)
Picture 6 I am feeding lots of hungry little fish.

The dive was on 12/19... the camera time must have been set to the states timezone.

Heath's Kitchen

2007-11-17T17:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone check out my new blog that I am starting.
I am just highlighting food that I am cooking each week.

Enjoy!

Heath

Rain, Storm, FIRE, WIND, Kum-ba-ya

2007-10-26T03:17:00.000-07:00

As rainy season is in full force here on Guam, our home in California is experiencing quite the opposite, as it faces the threat of the fire-storm.

Our place is safe and our tenants and friends doing well, struggling with the air quality, but safe and even back to work. It has been hard to keep up with what is going on back there but we do know that things are dying down, the winds have changed direction and Oceanside has remained untouched. It is as if God's hand has been on our surrounding area.

Surrounded by fires to the East (the school I worked at) to the South (just beyond the coffee shop I worked at) and North (Camp Pendleton where Heath worked) we have just been on the edge of our seats. We have been concerned as we have heard people are being evacuated all around our place, some of the major freeways are shut down, and reports stating the only thing stopping the fire is the ocean. Ahhhh, at this point things look much better and we don't expect to say, "buh bye cute lil o-side condo"

Check out Ben and Chara's blog, they live only 3 miles from our place and have been documenting all along, people are even finding refuge in their home. Thank you all for your prayers and concerns. We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Check out the google map of the fire

Does anyone else know the upbeat kumbaya, you know with motions and everything... "rain, storm, fire, wind, kumbaya?"

Renters!!!!

2007-10-13T01:18:00.000-07:00

We have renters again!!!!
Wow, we are so thankful to have that stress behind us!

This couple sounds amazing... like we would hang out if we still lived in the good ol O-side.

Thank you to all of you who helped us out... especially to Ben and Chara for handling all the crazy details and being available to show it and the Fullers for taking time out to do some repairs and paint touch ups and Ronnie for checking on police reports and Kevin for contacting our neighbors for us, Tam and Nyoka for posting an ad at the hospital and many of you who put the word out for us! We are sooo grateful!

We love and miss you all!

Summer Highlights

2007-09-27T01:47:00.000-07:00

FAMILY

Day at the park

Trip to Virginia

Rachel's New Jeep

The Longcores Big Day

2007-09-11T04:48:00.000-07:00

Congrats Keith and Holly... your day was beautiful!

My Girls

Goodbye Family Photos
(the handsome guy in blue is Rachel's sweet boyfriend)

This Weeks Top 40

2007-08-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

While I was off island, my substitute had one of my classes write to me about what they wanted get out of my science class.

(1-10 is from one student… so random.)

1. I would like to know how they made animals
2. Who made up the name fire?
3. How did they make water?
4. Who invented the light bulb'?
5. Who discovered volcanos and lava?
6. Who invented desks?
7. Who invented shoes?
8. How did they make paper?
9. Who invented backpacks?
10. Who came up with the word pencial?
11. How does the sun stay up?
12. What is the most poisiend plant that will hurt you in 60 seconds?
13. How does the center of the earth look like?
14. I want to know how a shock wave from a bomb can kill one person
15. Why do we have ants and snacks on earth?
16. Why do they call it a Coco Bird?
17. I want to learn everything that happens in space.
18. I want to learn about how do mold get on food
19. I want to learn, why do ships disapaire when their in Burmuta triangle
20. How fire was made with out gas or a lighter
21. I would like to learn why there are different nationalities
22. Mrs. Wilhoit can come any day.
23. How do we grow hair?
24. How does earth rotate?
25. Why does fish breath in water?
26. How does earth float?
27. Why do they got 4 different kinds of ocean?
28. Why does a dog have 4 legs?
29. How dow rokist get blast off in the blue sky?
30. Why dose elefint get so big?
31. How do people become hard workers?
32. How was salt water created?
33. Who invented cloths?
34. I want to know who was the first human to live
35. How do animals live without food?
36. How a star makes itself?
37. Why mushrooms only grow when it’s raining season?
38. What are all the names of are body parts?
39. How come magnits push the other when its same side as the other, but when it is opusite they stick together?
40. I would like to learn how to make potions

We Are All Home!

2007-08-22T01:09:00.000-07:00

All my traveling friends are home now!
Now I can really relax and look forward to growing our friendships!

Sean, JoRae, Luke, Jeannie,
me, Tyla, Kendrik

I'm Home!

2007-08-20T01:10:00.000-07:00

Finally!

I have arrived at home sweet home!

I got in late Saturday night, I just barely made the flight. There were 2 seats available and 4 families of 3 ahead of me, which all had to decline. It was a very bitter-sweet moment. 2 of the families were ones that I hooked up with and we were taking care of each other. So, it was hard to say goodbye after bonding in the airport terminal for a week. One of the families had small kids who just wanted to go home and see daddy, and the other family had been waiting a week longer than I had. So, it didn't seem fair, but I was so blessed by them all and am so glad to have made new friends for here on Guam!

So I have been nonstop since I have been home. Sunday was full of unpacking, doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge, grocery shopping and having family dinner with our Chamorro family.

And today I had my first day teaching and loved it! It is kind of a blur, but it was so great to see my students shining faces! They were so cute and from what I gathered they liked me and many thought I was funny... that is always a bonus! The staff was kind, helpful and welcoming. Many of them complemented me on the video and my packet of work I created for the first week of school (which I missed because of my travel delays) One of the science teachers said he was intimidated at my professionalism and another wanted a copy of my packet, the counselor who subbed for my class kept telling me all day she was so glad I was here! So, my hard work paid off. (Thanks Russ for helping me put together the video for my class and making me look way professional... the students loved it and came up to me all excited all day and introduced themselves.... it was cute)

So, now I am just soooo exhausted.

I wanna go home!

2007-08-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone... I can't wait to have time to update you on my trip to MI, TN, VA and CA.

For now I need to let you all know I am in CA at an Air Force Base attempting to get home. There are so many people here attempting to get to Guam. I am toward the bottom of the list. One family here has been waiting 5 weeks! So, them, another family and I all got one way commercial flights to Hawaii for less than $200 and will attempt to get to Guam via military space A (mac) flights.

So, pray I can get out and get back home to my husband, home and students! Also, pray the hurricane headed for Hawaii fizzles out! I'll keep you posted.

Tropical Storm Man-Yi

2007-07-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

Heath is on big time damage control. He woke up Monday morning and stepped out of bed into a puddle of water that he discovered extended into our closet. He then proceeded to enter the rest of the house and found our large air con unit was clogged because of all the leaves that were blown into it and it was leaking water into the dinning room. All of our front patio furniture and the grill had blown across the front of our house, around the corner and was lined up along the side railing of our wrap around patio.

The eye of the storm traveled just south of Guam, so the counterclockwise wind bands are hitting the east side of the island straight on. They are blowing 50 mile/hour winds directly into our house. All the leaves are off the trees and the waves crashing on the reef are about 20 ft. Heath says he can't imagine 100m/h winds that come with some Typhoons.

The power was out for only a couple hours when he got home from work so he fired up the generator. He has to ring out the towels catching the water every 3 hours or so.

He is going to have to call for help to put up the shutters at least for our bedroom window. There is no way he can carry them with his injured shoulder, let alone in 50m/h winds, climb the ladder and boost himself up to the window. It sounds like things are crazy there!

To view the satellite color loop check out the link below.

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/guamloops/guamircolor.html

(Guam is located at 13*N. Latitude and 144*E. Longitude)

Not All Fun and Games

2007-07-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

The past month has been a busy and STRESSFUL and draining time! (beware this may be long!)

We had to "ask" our tenants to move out of our condo in Oceanside. And are now hunting for new ones. We had an entire week without any leads and today I received 4 calls and 3 are viewing it today.... We really hope that one of those 3 are the perfect tenants for us... and want to move in asap!

It has been rough having 2-$2000 house/rent payments to make with out me working since January. (I subbed for about a month and didn't make half of one of those payments.) So, it has been difficult. I tried finding a job teaching summer school, but there were no openings and my Guam Teaching Certificate will not be valid until August.

I have submitted all my information for teaching to DODEA (military schools) as well as the Guam Public School System. I have been in contact with a school with 2 science positions and an art position open. GPS has 400 openings for teachers for the fall, and I am highly qualified to teach the lovely middle schoolers, so now I just wait.

My mom is having more health problems and is going to be having a rough summer in preparation for surgery scheduled for October. I wish I could be in Michigan for her surgery to help out, but I am only available for the summer and hope to be a help and encouragement.

My friend Holly is getting married to a fabulous man, Kieth, and asked me to stand in there wedding. I told her I could if if was before the 12th of August. So, I am in her wedding the 11th! :)

So, CA tenant issues, mom's health, holly's big day, no summer job, no money for Heath and I to travel (we hope to save and spend the next couple summers on Guam exploring the surrounding islands) are all reasons I should come home for a chunk of the summer.

My plan was to leave the last week of June, however I came down with the shingles and was bedridden for the week. Friday a MAC (military standby) flight was headed for WA so I attempted to get on the flight along with about 100 other people, many who were waiting for a flight out for 6 days!

So, I am here... they made room for about 80 people and I just so happened to make the list. After flying on 2 military hoppers, one to Honolulu, the other to Seattle, with a 24 hour layover in Hawaii and 36 hours to visit Michael and Rachel in Washington, I booked a commercial flight into Michigan and landed in Grand Rapids after 5 days of traveling.

This past week I have really laid low... My shingles are almost gone, I am now just dealing with bruise sensations, sensitive skin and some twinging pain in my spine area; much better than the initial feeling of being beaten with a base ball bat and breaking out with blisters. Shingles is the worst! You know it's bad when the Doctor looks at your back and says, "Oh! You have Zoster. It really sucks! Hurts like hell doesn't it?" I finally finished taking 28 pills a day and now am fighting something like bronchitis. I am also dealing with crazy jet lag! But it is good to be home!

So, that is what has been going on. My hope now is to get things set up for new tenants, and help out my mama and holly and then get on the first flight out back to Guam to begin teaching. Lots of hoping and waiting.

Heath had to stay home and work, but felt that this is the perfect opportunity for me to come home for the summer. He has lots of projects around the house he wants to work on, as well as hunting, fishing and fiestas to attend. He played soccer one of the first nights I was gone and messed up his shoulder really really bad... it is too painful at this time to tell what the damage is, we are hoping it is just a nasty sprain.

Ending on a positive note: Heath was just chosen to be the LPO (Leading Petty Officer) of the Physical Therapy Department. He is the only E5 in the hospital to hold that title, the others are E6 and above, so it looks great on his record! He also has experience being LPO back at Camp Pendleton. In both situations he was chosen as the youngest, least amount of time in the Navy, the least experience in PT and the least amount of time at that station. I am so proud of him... there is this natural force of leadership and excellence propelling him forward.

Good Bye for Now

2007-06-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

We hooked up with a small group shortly after we arrived on Guam. They are fabulous and welcomed us in like we had been with them for years. This past Tuesday we had almost the whole gang out to our place for dinner. Four of the six other couples are PCSing... (being restationed) Three of the four leave this week/end... We will miss them greatly. We had a great evening and loved being a part of your community.

This photo was shot from our balcony... on timer... 10 second timer. The first try I did not even make it close to running around the porch, down the hill, around the flower bed, between the cars and across the yard. The second time, I sprinted faster than I think I ever have and just made it. If the picture would have taken once I landed, I would have blocked half of the Malloy family... thankfully it caught me in the air, not blocking any ones beautiful little face!

From a small island to a small world...
we will meet again...

California Clear Credential!

2007-06-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

After living in CA for just over 3 years, teaching a crazy schedule there for 2 1/2, taking 6 classes, and studying for 6 monster tests (equivalent to majoring in the test subject matter) and completing them all by January (we left in February) I submitted my application for a clear credential just in time to leave CA. I knew it was necessary to be "No Child Left Behind" compliant, and it would look good to have a CA and MI credential, but really I thought, all that hell for that? I must be crazy.... I wasn't... this week I was surprised.

My credential now reads:

"This document authorizes the holder to teach the subject area(s) listed above in grades twelve and below, including preschool, and in classes organized primarily for adults."

Doesn't that mean I can teach Art or Geosciences to any age... well, except pre-preschool?

Now, I can actually dream again about teaching art... I am not limited to 7-12th grade (even thought they are my favorite). But now I am going to go check out all of my many options.

p.s. I had an interview...sort of... for a Guam Public School down south. They have two middle school science positions and an art position available, the art would only be a possibility if the sciences were filled first... it is about a 25-30 minute drive... I have mixed feelings about it. This is the hard part, I will make the most of where ever I am, but I no longer feel like I am so limited. So, now I look and wait, look and wait.

Workin and a Hopin

2007-05-18T04:02:00.000-07:00

I am subbing! Finally!

I filled out all 49 pages of all the information you could imagine about my life the past 10 years. So, if you get a phone call, I may have squeezed your info in as a reference. I ended up having to put down 33 references, 12 places I have lived, 11 jobs I have had and 6 colleges I have attended. Yikes, I was all over the place. So, just last week I got called to come in and so far I have only had one day off. This is good! But will only last for a month.

I am working for DODEA (Department of Defense) Schools, one is a middle/elementary school and the other a high school. So far I have had a 3rd grade class, Jr high Math, Language Arts, Drama and Spanish, HS music, and I have hopped around in 1st grade, kindergarten and the front office. It is great to be back in the classroom. There are things I really enjoy about subbing and things I am looking forward to once I have my own classroom again. (God willing)

Right now there is nothing posted I am qualified for, but I am hoping something will come up. My application is in and waiting for a position to pop up. This is the hard part... the unknown, just waiting, and wondering. I keep wondering if there is something else I can be doing, or something else i should be working on to be better qualified. I am thankful to be subbing, and I am hopefully making connections so I am not just another number.

I know I should probably be looking for other possibilities.... I just want dodea so bad! Art positions are very hard to come by, so I don't really have a an ounce of hope for that, but science, I am just hoping something will come up and am actually really excited about the possibility. My dream would be... if a position opened up at the high school! They are building a brand new one right next to the Naval hospital... Heath and I could car pool, maybe even have lunch once in a while, possibly work out together. Those are just some of the many pluses. Ok, I know I should simmer down on the dreaming... but wouldn't that just be so great?

Our Bebes

2007-05-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

Heath has 12 hour hospital duty tonight... can you tell I am bored? I can't catch up on Grey's Anatomy without Heath (although he told me I could) we are all caught up on Lost and I just can't seem to get off the computer. So here I sit and blog. I know I am a big fat nerd (just check the 3 latest posts) but I like it. And it is the small things that paint the picture of life for me.

I also don't have kids to post pictures of, like many of my fellow bloggers and I have been waiting to get on the substitute teacher list, so I have had a lot of time on my hands to take pictures of the little things of Guam.

It is the first time since high school that I have had almost 4 months off... wait then that would have been before kindergarten... no wonder I was beginning to get antsy. I have been able to keep full time busy somehow, but I have also been breathing and have had time to notice it... ahh... nice!

Anyway, one more silly set of pics... like I said earlier we do not have little ones. So, a few weeks ago Heath and I made a trip to the nursery and picked out a few little ones we could call our own. We have been giving them the nurturing and tlc that they so desperately need... and low and behold they are growing like weeds.

We loved them so much we have adopted a few more that are not pictured, however this does not mean that we love them any less. In fact Ginger and Stinky Clove are our own and are just starting to sprout. Sweet B and Thai B have multiplied their size by at lest 5. The Chives family have had to grow up 3 times. Our little Hotties continue to amaze us! The little Toms are sick... we are looking into how to help them, they have produced 4 beautiful little ones though.

And man they all love to salsa!... seriously... it is the best salsa I have ever experienced!

See I am a nerd... that is what you get at 1am... some say anytime of day really.
Alright... goodnight all. Loves :)

Roommates

2007-05-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about roommates lately… I have had about 40 to 50 roommates in the past 10 years of my life. Some good, some not-so-good, all loved. Here is a story and a few of my thoughts about the topic…

Good roommates…

Don’t leave their crap all over.
Don’t act like they own your things.
Don’t yell at you to leave the room.
Don’t scare you when you are sleeping.
Don’t make noise at all hours of the night.
Don’t leave their leftovers out.
Don’t jump out of things to scare you.

One of the first nights in our new house, I heard a noise unlike normal new house noises; in fact, it made me sit straight up in bed. It was a slight squeal, kind of like someone bumping into furniture, sliding it on the marble tile, at least that is what I imagined. Heath got up and checked the house and found no such intruders and all furniture as we had left it. (He is such a good room/life-mate)

However…I think we have quite a few not-so-good roommates…

Good or bad, they are loved. They are so cute and so fun to watch and they eat the bugs (except for all the teeny-tiny ants.) And when I find bug carcasses and tiny wings on the furniture or stove, I am thankful that the geckos have taken care of them before I notice them invading my house. Also, I am learning that they do take their dumps in fairly regular locations, I appreciate routines rather than their little surprises.

Heath also likes to catch them and let them ride around on his shoulders. We were trying to scare them away, especially after one jumped out of a cereal bowl at heath, but we have grown to enjoy their presence. We have learned to coexist; now all of our dishes sit upside-down in our cupboards… thanks mom for that tip!

We also appreciate their humor. They all have different voices, which when I am not trying to sleep can be cute as well… The one that lives in the kitchen has a loud clicking squawk, especially after dinner; in fact this is the 3rd time it has spoken since I have started this post. The ones that live in our room are the squealers, like rusty furniture wheels. The ones in our living room and the bathrooms have babies that think they can fly and jump off the light ledges to severe injury and sometimes their death. Today, there was a baby in the corner of our bathtub that could not climb up the dried soap scum slope (gross I know). He was so cute to watch running his little heart out and going nowhere… sometimes I feel like that. Heath rescued him… he does that for me too… what a good roommate!

Critters of the Night, Visitors and Pests

2007-05-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

We feed these guys... they are like our pigs that eat all our scraps... they really like coconut but are not picky. In fact every night we see like 10 to 20 in the pile and lately they have been working their way into our garden.

I also discovered a hermit crab tonight that was living in a lego, he was not homeless, just living in a piece of trash. Poor little guy, maybe tomorrow I will go into the jungle to help him house hunt. There are plenty of shells out there.

Tonight (Heath has hospital duty) I was taking out some banana bread that the ants discovered and heard claws at my feet just at the end of my patio... Heath has been wanting to catch a coconut crab (ayuyu), feed it coconut and eventually eat it... they are supposedly deliciously sweet. However, their pinch is incredibly painful and they wont let go until you break off their claw... I was not about to catch this one just in case it is an Ayuyu and not just a land crab.

These little neighbors surround us... they are fabulous alarm clocks... any time of day! I thought it would just be morning, but that must just be what they are known for because they yell all day long! The past few weeks many of them had babies, the bottom picture has four... where's waldo, penny, franko and fuzzy?

Long legged friends. This praying mantis was just hanging out with me as I gardened. The Banana Spiders... that is what we have heard some call them, can be found in our flowers, or the tangen tangen (jungle bush) at anytime. However the woolly one, we think is a wolf spider, huge and easily scared. Both harmless... we think.

One last critter, this one I like the least. Many of you know I am not a cat fan. Also, many of you know that things that I am allergic to are drawn to me. Well, this critter fits both categories... It finds shade under my car scaring me every time I open my car door, I have found it sitting at every one of our doormats, it also runs into our windows trying to catch bugs or geckos. Not only that, I think it has cataracts, so it glares at me, of course I glare back with my cataracts and all. But isn't that a lovely thing to be doing for the camera? Do you think it is saying, "kiss my butt, I lived here first"?

P.S. Of all the critters I have encountered here, the most domestic I am not a fan of. The boonie dogs scare me, I have to run with a stick for protection and I still run afraid.

P.P.S. The brown snakes you all hear about, I can no longer say we haven't seen any. We saw our first on the road home the other night. But most people who live here long term have only seen a couple.

Fun With Lisa

2007-05-10T23:49:00.000-07:00

Who wouldn't want to pick up a beautiful, open arm, friend with a smile like that at an airport at 3 am? We were so excited to see each other we didn't sleep that first night, we stayed up chatting away, waiting to catch the sunrise, we then went for a run and began our 4 adventure-full days straight of soaking up lots of sun, diving, snorkeling, spelunking, hiking, exploring and lots of laughter and catch-up. It was very fun and refreshing!

We miss you already!

2007-05-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

Guest Room Ready

We were fortunate enough to have been able to buy an extra bed from a lady moving back to the states. It included all the bedding; 4 pillows, 2 sets of sheets, a nice pillow sham, a comforter, and dust ruffle all for $150 buck-eroos. At first I was like, ewe, a flowery blue quilt...not totally my style but it looks so nice and calming in the back bedroom. And with the view... it is so nice.

And the bathroom not to bad with white and silver accents... the brown just wasn't working. I wish I was a guest staying here.... don't you? You better be saving your pennies.

2007-05-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

Lisa San is coming to town

Our First Visitor! ... I am so excited! ....

My friend Lisa is coming tomorrow and staying for the week!

Yeah! Someone who knows me! I can't believe it's been 3 months without familiar faces.

We are going to make lots of yummy food (she really misses american food!) I am going to feel like the food santa... merry foodmas Lisa!

Have lots of girl time... I miss girl time

Drink Mojitoes while we watch the waves

Talk a lot, or just sit and be known (ahh, to be known and understood)

And most definitely... laugh tons (if you haven't checked out her blog, when you do be prepared to laugh and maybe cry too)

And we might do a little boonie stomping, looking for beaches or waterfalls or caves or whatever

Anyway we are going to have a good time!

Love ya sista Lisa... travel safe.

Guam on Comedy Central

2007-05-03T17:26:00.001-07:00

Hey did anyone catch this on April 29, 2007?

The Colbert Report

2007-04-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

SURF

My friend Melanie took this photo and played around with it and cleaned it up.... now it doesn't look like the gray, rainy day that it was. I love it! Maybe I will have it printed and hang it up.

Tsunami and Typhoon Warning Lifted

2007-04-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

This was the day that Guam had both Typhoon and Tsunami warnings. I was so excited! Anyway, I was to report to the hospital for the duration of the storm and come home when it was over. But old mother nature had different plans, the Typhoon blew north and we never got the Tsunami due to some other land structures around the Marianas Islands. So at the end of the work day I was able to come home to my wife still getting ready for the Typhoon. The first words out of my mouth were "surfs up". So Rhianon joined me to take some pic's, thank you Rhianon for being a super trooper though all the rain and wind. I was also missing my friend Chris from CA encouraging me to paddle hard for the set waves. This was the only day I was able to get out in the nice weather. I can't wait until the next Typhoon. Hope you enjoy the pictures from my gorgeous wife.

Red Flag Warning

2007-04-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

The other week we had some dry heat kind of weather and things on the inland started to catch on fire (one in front of our place) Rhianon was home and had a chance to get some good pic's of the action, we even had a news station come onto our deck to get some video of the fire. Don't worry it didn't make it up to our place. But Rhianon kept on calling me at work giving me updates about the fire and that our place was OK.

Condition Of Readiness (COR)

2007-04-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Conditions of Readiness are based on the onset of damaging winds of 39 mph sustained to the island.

COR 4
* Damaging winds may arrive on-island within 72 hours
* Normal day to day activities

COR 3
* Damaging winds may arrive within 48 hours
* Review, update your family disaster plan
* Buy & replenish supplies for your disaster supply kit
* Fill up car(s) with gas
* Secure outdoor objects
* Prepare household for long term power & water loss (laundry, outdoor cooking, etc.)
* Tune into radio and / or television

COR 2
* Damaging winds may arrive within 24 hours
* Close & secure shutters
* Fill containers with water
* Move vehicles to a secure & protected area
* Review Family Disaster Plan with entire family
* Seek Emergency Shelter if home is not fully concrete or prepared to withstand damaging winds.
* Tune into radio and / or television.

COR 1
* Damaging winds are occuring or expected within 12 hours
* Only Mission Essential Personnel & Vehicles Allowed Outside
* Tune into radio and / or television

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

2007-04-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK’S NEWS
(Thank you KUAM news team)

Friday, March 30, 2007

The National Weather Service has placed Guam under a Red Flag Warning until Saturday evening, meaning critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly. According to the NWS, a combination of fresh to strong tradewinds, low afternoon relative humidity, and warm temperatures will create explosive fire growth potential.

Just last week the NWS declared a Fire Weather Watch, brought on by similar dry conditions and high winds.

The National Weather Service was on the money when it issued its Red Flag Fire Warning this morning. Today fires broke out across the island, filling Guam's normally blue skies with smoke. Locales like Cross-Island Road, Turtle Cove, and parts of Tiyan were literally swallowed by flames.

According to the NWS, relative humidity probably hit as low as 55% today's high was 88° and the island's dew point was 71° - both perfect weather for fires.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

NWS tracking storm near Pohnpei

At 6pm Saturday the National Weather Service announced that tropical storm conditions could be possible this Monday or Tuesday for the Mariana Islands. A tropical storm disturbance west of Pohnpei is expected to develop and move northwest toward our region, possibly bringing tropical storm conditions to the region by the beginning of the workweek.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Guam placed in Condition 2

At around 9:30pm Sunday the island was declared in Condition of Readiness "2", according to the Guam Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense. This means damaging winds may arrive within 24 hours. At 8pm Sunday the National Weather Service placed Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan under a Typhoon Warning.

Typhoon Warning issued for Marianas
At 8pm Sunday evening the National Weather Service issued a Typhoon Warning for Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan. While still a tropical storm, the formation named Kong-Rey is expected to intensify overnight and should become a typhoon on Monday. The storm is moving northwest at 13 miles per hour and this general motion is expected to continue during the next 24 hours. Maximum sustained winds are 50 miles per hour.

Residents advised to prepare for Kong-Rey's arrival
Damaging winds due to Tropical Storm Kong-Rey are possible in the Marianas beginning Monday night, with stronger winds reaching typhoon intensity along the track of the storm. National Weather Service meteorologist Chip Guard told KUAM News, "This is our best guest of what's going to happen: We expect the damaging winds of 40 miles per hour to arrive about 7pm Monday and then the destructive winds that can blow your roof - especially tin roofs through the air - about 1am Tuesday. From 4am-9am Tuesday possible typhoon-force winds may arrive. The damaging winds that arrive tomorrow night may last about twenty-four hours. The destructive winds that arrive at 1am will last about twelve hours."

Monday, April 02, 2007

Tsunami Watch declared after quake near Solomon Islands

As if we didn't have enough on our hands with the impending Tropical Storm Kong-Rey about 400 miles to the east-southeast, Guam is now keeping a keen eye on a tsunami warning. An earthquake registering as high as 7.8 on the Richter Scale occurred about 217 miles northwest of the Solomon Islands.

Tsunami Watch cancelled, but storm grows stronger
After a few brief moments of concern, Guam is back to having to worry about only a single natural event. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center called off the Tsunami Watch for Guam, according to the Governor's Office, shortly before 9am. However, the "other" issue of the day - Tropical Storm Kong-Rey - continues to build in intensity as it heads northwest towards Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Typhoon Warning called off, but Guam still in COR2
Guam rose to the challenge of an impending typhoon, and this time our island fortunately was spared as the National Weather Service at 8pm Monday cancelled the Typhoon Warning for Guam. Typhoon Kong-Rey continues to move north-northwest toward the Mariana Islands, tracking toward Saipan and Tinian.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Back to normal: Condition of Readiness 4 restored
With Typhoon Kong-Rey no longer posing a direct threat to Guam, the local government as well as the United States military declared the island back in Condition of Readiness 4 at 7am Tuesday. Guam was fortunate to have not been in the direct path of a formation that built in intensity as it headed towards the Marianas after first being plotted over the weekend near Pohnpei. Kong-Rey went rather quickly from being a tropical storm to a typhoon over the course of a very busy Monday for the island's response activity coordinators.

While the Typhoon Watch was called off at 8 last night as the formation veered towards Tinian and Saipan and away from making a direct hit on Guam and Rota, the Government of Guam chose to persist having COR2 declared as a precautionary measure through the late hours of the night.

Back to normal: Condition of Readiness 4 restored

2007-04-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

While the Typhoon Watch was called off at 8 last night as the formation veered towards Tinian and Saipan and away from making a direct hit on Guam and Rota, the Government of Guam chose to persist having COR2 declared as a precautionary measure through the late hours of the night.

With Typhoon Kong-Rey no longer posing a direct threat to Guam, the local government as well as the United States military declared the island back in Condition of Readiness 4 at 7am Tuesday. Guam was fortunate to have not been in the direct path of a formation that built in intensity as it headed towards the Marianas after first being plotted over the weekend near Pohnpei. Kong-Rey went rather quickly from being a tropical storm to a typhoon over the course of a very busy Monday for the island's response activity coordinators.

KONG-REY

2007-04-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

We have tons to update!!!!
It has been busy here...
I only have time to inform you of the latest news...

...TROPICAL STORM CONTINUES INTENSIFYING AND MOVING TOWARD
THE MARIANAS... (that is us... Guam is the southern most Mariana Island)

We have the Typhoon Kong-Rey heading our direction... it has shifted north as of last night and looks like it is going to pass just over us and hit Saipan. The Pacific Daily news says, "it continues to intensify as it moves towards Saipan, Rota and Guam." Currently the maximum sustained winds are 75 mph and are expected to reach 40 mph here on Guam. The typhoon may reach sustained winds of 95 to 110 mph within the next 24 hours.

Heath and I are fine... he has to stand duty at the hospital until the storm passes, he left last night at 2:30am. We secured the house last night before he left with the typhoon shutters and I have been working all day preparing the house. I will be staying with friends up the street. We may be out of power and water after the storm for quite a while. I will post more when I can.

The best websites we have found to stay informed are:

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/
(click on "colorized loop" for a good pic)

http://www.prh.noaa.gov/guam/cyclone.php
(Map view of the path is the 4th bullet down)

http://www.guampdn.com/
(Guam Pacific Daily News)

Fruit and Flower Tour of Our yard

2007-03-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Backyard/Papaya Tree

Heath gathering our ripe fruit... the banana tree is in our backyard, you can see it behind his hand that is holding the bananas. Notice the garden behind him "before."

The garden "after" we spent 5 hours getting it ready for planting.
We went to the nursery and picked out our babies...
tomato, chilies, Thai basil, and green onion. We also bought seeds to plant.

The pile of leaves we left in the bottom right of the picture are covering our wild chicken eggs, we wondered what the mama was doing in our back yard while we were tearing out the plants and weeds, I guess we were upsetting her nest... oops.

Look closely below... the light, dusty green is not part of this tree... it is an epaphite, or an air plant... it receives all of its nutrients from the air and just hangs out in the crevas of this tree.

These are the two flowers that land on our cars... they are so beautiful.

These are not on our property but ones we took our first couple weeks here.

Fishing

2007-03-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

We have wonderful neighbors! The day we moved in we were getting into our truck to grab some grub and our neighbor, Nina, stopped us. She is a very sweet retired nurse, who spends a lot of her time gardening and raising orchids, she is originally from the Palau. Her husband is retired and spends a lot of his time out fishing (maybe he and Heath will be fishing buddies.) Anyway, she said she thought we were going out to get food so she made us dinner. It was Marlin her husband had caught. She also had 16 Mahi Mahi and 1 Wahoo on ice. She taught Heath how to filet a huge ocean fish and filled our freezer with about $100-$120 worth of filet's. Since then Heath has gone out to the ocean right in front of our house and I have been able to see him from our living room. The only way to get to the ocean is by a two track off the main road.

Inside our Home

2007-03-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

Kitchen Before... working hard is my dorky (he told me to write that) but cute (my addition) husband Heath.

Kitchen After (There is so much cupboard space I don't even know what to do with it all)Kitchen ViewLiving Room (The ocean is to the right and the hall to the 3 bedrooms is to the left)

Dinning Room (I'm not crazy about our colors with the tile, but they look good with the kitchen. The pictures are not hung yet... it is not as easy to hang things on cement walls)

Master Bedroom... this room also has a view of the ocean. There are two other bedrooms, the main guest bedroom also has an ocean view. The other room, we will turn into our office and storage room, it looks out at our backyard full of flowers and fruit trees.

Master Bathroom
Decorating and arranging furniture is still a work in progress, the two bedrooms and guest bathroom not pictured are not set up yet either. If you have suggestions on decorating let me know. So here it is our Home-SWEET-Home.

Moving Into Our New Home

2007-03-12T02:13:00.000-07:00

We did a Discovery Dive and where we went we saw this ship... this is the type of ship that our homegoods and car were shipped over on... hopefully my car is on this one!

The waiting is over... Thursday the movers were scheduled to unload our housegoods... Heath checked off the boxes as they unloaded and I directed them as to where to put the boxes. In three hours we unloaded all of our boxes and then spent the next three days unpacking them.

This is our entrance to our house... my car arrived on wednesday and this is the truck we bought for exploring the island.

This is the view from below the house... we have the upstairs with the wrap-around porch and the lower level belongs to a quiet navy girl.

These are of our view taken from our porch

Waiting and Exploring

2007-03-10T06:29:00.000-08:00

Goodbye hotel living!
We stayed our last few days between hotel and home with some friends whom Heath worked with back in CA, this was a wonderful transition into normal living.

While we waited to move into our house we spent our time getting everything set up as well as touring the island... below are some pictures of what we found.

Good-bye, Mrs. Wilhoit

2007-03-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

Round Table Times: San Marcos Middle School
Good-bye, Mrs. Wilhoit
By: Shaley Sirisack

(One of the students just emailed me the letter she wrote for the school newspaper. I thought it was cute and somewhat informative for those of you wanting to learn a little about Guam, or me.)

On January 19, 7th grade Art and 7th/8th grade Science teacher Mrs. Rhianon Wilhoit left San Marcos Middle School. Mrs. Wilhoit's husband is in the Navy and they are being transferred to Guam. Guam is a small tropical island in the South Pacific. It is north of Australia and Papua New Guinea, South of Japan, East of the Philippines and West of Hawaii. Mrs. Wilhoit considers the geology around Guam fascinating; they will be 200 miles west of the deepest part of the world, the Mariana Trench. Guam was formed by volcanic activity. It is surrounded by coral reefs great for snorkeling and scuba diving.

She and her husband are very excited about being able to travel the world. She was in her 3rd year of teaching. She is very sad to leave SMMS and the students that she has enjoyed. She is looking forward to her new life and the adventures that await her in Guam. Mrs. Wilhoit is glad she had the opportunity to know several of the students here and to teach them. The new Art teacher is Mrs. York, and she is sure to be just as great as Mrs. Wilhoit. Mrs. Wilhoit hopes to get a teaching job in Guam. She says she'll miss the staff, students, and the weather here. She wants the students she has taught to believe in themselves and they'll find success. She hopes for the best for her students and their families. If anyone would like to contact Mrs. Wilhoit, her e-mail address is wilhoit.mrs@gmail.com. Mrs. Wilhoit would be glad to keep in touch with students and staff. We all hope for the best for her.

Happy Birthday Heath!

2007-03-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

Today marks our third week here on Guam as well as Heath’s birthday. Happy Birthday my love! We have had a great day, with great food, great company and a lot to be thankful for!

Things have been slowly falling into place since we arrived with only a few minor glitches. Heath checked in on base during our first week and the past two we have had so much to do to get set up and begin to settle in here. Thankfully, Heath has been on “house hunting leave” from work, so the past 12 days we have been able to get most things done. He just went back yesterday.

So far, we have found an amazing house to rent… we will post pictures once we move in…hopefully this week! You will not believe it! I dream about it all the time, I just can’t wait to get all of our housing items dropped off so we can begin to make it home. I am so anxious to not be living out of suitcases; 3 months has been a long time!

We have bought a little “boonie” truck, perfect for exploring this little island… there are a lot of off road beaches and hiking trails to waterfalls. It will also be great for throwing our scuba or snorkeling gear, surfboards or bikes in the back. My car should be here this weekend. I got my Guam drivers license without having to take any tests, in fact unlike the California DMV or the Michigan Secretary of State, I was in and out of there with my Guam drivers license in hand within 30 minutes (quite amazing, especially for laid-back island life.)

So above I mentioned scuba diving, we are getting certified to dive at the end of this month, part of heath’s birthday present. I have been so nervous… but we did a discovery dive to see if my ears could handle it and if I felt Closter phobic, and I was fine… so I am so stoked! Plus, it is one more thing I can do with Heath… who knows, I may learn to golf out here too, we will see.

Once we settle into our house I will put in my application to substitute at the Naval Middle School and High School. My application is in for a teaching job for the fall. Subbing will be nice and flexible, that way, if I wake up hypnotized by the ocean waves out my bedroom window, I can easily turn down sub jobs depending on the day. :)

More to come on our house soon…you all will be so jealous!

GUAM: Our New Home!

2007-02-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

TRAVELS

We made it… thankfully an uneventful trip! At 1:30 am we were greeted with Hawaiian Leis from our sponsor Jim. He took us to our Japanese tourist hotel and we crashed. We woke up the next morning on a beautiful island.

LIVING

The view from our hotel elevator, we ended up with a view of the island so we love taking the elevator, one day I rode it up and then down and up and then down.

That is the beach in the top of the picture and then the ocean is just beyond that... Tumon Bay. The pools and hot tub are below and the water park is just to the right of the hotel building. We get to stay here for up to 30 days but we will soon be house hunting... this limbo business could get old very fast.

TIME

…Where America's Day Begins...

My Michigander folk… this is the easy way to figure out the time difference...
When I lived in California you subtracted 3 hours.
Now that I live in Guam, add 3 hours, flip the am/pm, and add a day.
Or you can just add 15 hours.

My California dreamers... add 6 hours, flip the am/pm, and add a day.
Or you can just add 18 hours.

(yes, I live in your tomorrow…being in the future, however, all I can really tell you is that the sun did rise and set as scheduled… sorry my gamblers)

My friends around the world… I can’t do the math right now… just this little bit has made my brain smoke as it is. Loves to you all in Africa, Thailand, Tibet, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and where ever else you are… p.s. Can we come visit?

LANDSCAPE

Heath’s sponsor, Jim, (who also replaced him in Kuwait) took us on a 7-hour tour of the island. You would think an island that is only 50 some miles around would not take that long and if it did we will probably be bored the next 3 years because we just saw everything. That is not the case, it wet our appetite to explore and see all that there is to see and do… which there is a lot… and if we do get a little restless, then hopefully we will have saved up enough to travel Southeast Asia. Here are a few pics of our tour… enjoy.

Rocky but Beautiful Beach Line

Path to a Private Beach on the Air Force Base

Mountain View at Southern End of the Island

OUR FIRST EXPLORATION

Wrapping things up

2007-02-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

We have had a week full of car crap, appointments, last minute errands, goodbye dinners and a big party last night. Once I figure out how to post pictures from my new camera I will.

Heath and Ben tore a hole in their wall on friday and finished it on saturday before the party. It totally made the party fabulous. We had a couple tables of poker and blackjack going on, a dance party, tons of great food and a killer bar. I made 2 huge batches of Mojitos... my new favorite.

Also,

Our move date has changed to wednesday... and ...

I just found a post from novemeber 17th that I forget to post... check it out.

flight info...

2007-01-31T23:52:00.000-08:00

...finally!

We just got our leave date today.

We fly out of LAX on Tuesday February 6th.

Wow, this is now for real!

We Will Miss You Greatly Grandma!

2007-01-27T19:01:00.000-08:00

On the 12th of January my lovely grandmother, on my fathers side, passed away… I was able to fly back to MI for the long weekend. I am so so thankful I was still in the country and able to make it! My family is absolutely amazing!!! 82 of the 104 children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchild from all over the country (9 different states) were able to drop everything and go to Standish, MI for the weekend.

It was overwhelming in a wonderful way! I am so proud to be a part of this family... we get along so well and love each other so much. It makes me think of the "idea of heaven," all loved ones in the mansion with many rooms, everyone being together, the way we love it. We have such a great time being together! I know Grandma and Grandpa were looking down and smiling as we all loved on each other, celebrated their lives, laughed at the great memories and simply as we enjoyed one another’s company!

Grandma and Grandpa did such a wonderful job of loving everyone who came into their lives, something we talked a lot about is how everyone felt like they were their favorite... and we all were! Whether we were born a miller, or married in. I want to be like that... to everyone I come in contact with to treat them like they are the greatest thing that has ever happened... wouldn't this be a wonderful place if everyone valued and appreciated one another like that?

There are so many ways I want to be just like Grandma!

And some silly little ways I am like her already... I save boxes... I do, I can't help it. There my obsession is out. I like boxes… I just never know when I will need one of a certain size. I don't collect food boxes and cut them down to organize things just like Grandma, but I do keep nice boxes, shoeboxes and when I worked at the coffee shop I would save a lot of the merchandise boxes. While I worked there I also discovered I loved order day because I liked to unpack everything and organize the back storage room so it would be of utmost efficiency. I think I got this Tetris-packing skill from Grandma as well. Silly, but handy.

I wish I could say I got her adorable, tiny nose… but no my little sissy Rachel gets that piece of her beauty… I did get her pretty nails though.

Speaking of her beauty…

I will end on one of my favorite stories of Grandma told by my Aunt Mary, her only daughter (I am telling it how I remember it.)

Grandma had asked Aunt Mary to get her dresses to try on for her funeral (which isn’t something you just want to run out and do.) She really wanted to be pretty for us… and she was gorgeous! So, after she got the dress, Grandma tried it on, smoothed out her shape, checked herself out in the mirror, and then turned and checked herself out over her shoulder and said, “Wow, I look cute!”

If I can be that confident about how I look and be able to say, (no matter how I am feeling) “I look cute,” I think that is where true beauty shines through. Plus, I will be happier and more carefree.

So, besides her amazing ability to love, I would also like her cute humor, class, selflessness and her beautiful confidence.

Super Quick Update

2007-01-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

I missed my December update… and it is now the middle of January! Wow!
We have been a “little” busy...

I passed my last test and passed my BTSA program and submitted all the paperwork to clear my CA teaching credential.

We packed up our house… all of our things are on the way to Guam. We found renters… an amazing blessing all around, we couldn’t have asked for a better situation.

We visited our family and friends in MI for 3 weeks and said a lot of goodbyes… the most difficult were saying goodbye to fragile grandparents. I wasn't even back in CA for a week when we got the news that Grandma Miller passed away.

The funeral was today and I have a few minutes here in the airport to do a quick post. I will post more about my quick trip home, my fabulous family of 100 and my darling granmother who will be missed incredibly!

Fun with Heath's Friends from Work

2006-11-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

Tam, Heath, Jason and Mike
enjoyed a day of fishing on veterens day.

We are so proud of all of you serving our country,
taking care of the wounded and bringing healing.
Our broken and hurting world needs more people like you
bringing peace and goodness!

You deserve to take the day and enjoy playing...

Mike and Jason's catch... or is it the bait?

Heath cought the jackpot fish of the day.

The Naval Banquet was a few weeks ago.

We had a good time hanging out with Mike and Lisa

Lisa and I were able to see where our men hang out all day...

... and how they take care of their patiants...

Worlds Apart

2006-11-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

“Worlds Apart” has been an appropriate title the past 16 months and will continue to be for a few more years.

…Living thousands of miles from our families, this has been a place we have been able to keep loved ones posted on what we we’ve been up to…

…We started our blog on our travels to Thailand, to share our pictures and stories…

…Six weeks later Heath left for Kuwait and this was how many of us were able to communicate with him…

…Well, we have one more reason to keep the title… we are moving to Guam!

I just informed the school I teach at that my last day will be the last day of the semester in January. We have to report in Guam only 3 months from today! Heath will be taking a PT Tech position at the Naval hospital and I hope to find a teaching position there.

The past week we have been preparing the house for renting it out, we have a date scheduled for the movers to come in December and hope to have someone move in shortly after.

I can’t believe it is really happening. Time is ticking and we will be living on a tropical island in no time. In the mean time we hope to experience as much of Southern California before we leave.

Pics with the other Wilhoits

2006-11-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

We were blessed to have Heath’s brother and his wife join us for a week from Seattle. It was very sweet of them to fly down and give up their week off to spend with us. It was our first goodbyes before we leave the country... (more to come)

We took a trip to Mexico for their famous margaritas, and small souvenirs.

It was great to spend time with Rachel; I love having her as a sister!

Most every day this is what the table looked like… our favorite game… Settlers of Catan

After they left this is what the table looked like while I studied for the week

Anniversary and Stuff

2006-11-03T15:58:00.000-08:00

I’ve been busy studying for my last test...yikes. At this point, I am attempting to learn the geology of California... I’m having trouble collecting my info though.

My brain is overloaded so I thought I would take a break and send out a quick update:

We had a wonderful anniversary! Heath had the whole evening planned and I couldn't have been more surprised. First, our friend Danny had everything set up to give me an hour long massage (she is wonderful!), then we had dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant, then we drove to San Diego for the Jungle Fantasy Cirque du Soleil, then on the way home we stopped at the ocean and danced under the stars to a CD Heath had put together for us. It was a wonderful evening.

All last week Michael and Rachel were visiting us from Seattle. It was great to spend time with family! I'll post pics soon.

This week I have been grading tons of student work, crunching numbers and filling in report card grades. Any free moment I have I am studying for my test (it is tomorrow.) I don't quite feel as prepared for this one as I had for the other tests... and this is supposed to be the most specialized...

Life has just been so busy.

I really miss connecting with everyone, hopefully when the test is over.

Test # 5

2006-10-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

I passed!

Wahooo!

The test I bout died taking...
The one I was sick as a dog during...
The monster I felt like was laughing at me...

Yes, this test I speak of is #5 of six...

I conquered it.
It is over.
It is finished.
It is history.

I don’t know how well I did and I don't really care. I did enough to check it off the list.

What does this mean you say?

This means that I have 2 1/2 weeks to study for my last test (the hardest and most specialized of the science tests.) And once I pass... I will be "no child left behind" compliant and will have proved to california that I know my stuff and michigan did in fact teach me the things I need to know. (This test specializes on ca geology... I haven't taken any classes on ca-anything.)

Five years after taking some of the classes that ca expects, I have worked hard to review, relearn and learn for the first time.

I am in fact, a professional.

Happy Birthday Jake

2006-10-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

We always have so much fun with you all!

Thanks for including us on you special day!

Congrats on you new house.

Good luck Jake on your CSET test, I will be thinking about you as I attempt to pass it as well.

Love you guys!

September Update

2006-10-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

I'll start with a funny story...

... The principal at my school stopped me and asked me if i would like to coach cross country... all I could do was start laughing... then I said, "the longest distance I have ever run is 4 miles" (thanks to my friend Lisa.) He said, "great! They only run 3." Somehow the next day I was coach. Coach of something on my own I hate to do. So i run with the kids and look at it like I am getting paid to work out. It has been fun to work with the kids but takes up a lot of energy... we have more than 50 kids signed up.

A couple of weeks ago I was fighting a nasty cold…felt like a sinus infection. It seemed to drain the life out of me. This made it challenging when I felt like I was running a circus; with teaching and coaching plus...

One more test is finished, I find out if I passed in a week… if I passed I have only one more to go. I just started studying today... I can not wait until November 4th is over!

Brooke and I at my after test #5 party

Our company has moved out. I felt like a bad hostess while they were here... all I did was study. We had two navy guys staying with is until they found their own places. Patrick was a friend of Heath’s from the ship in VA. Jason and Heath went to PT school together in TX and has been in Guam the past three years and now is at Camp Pendleton working with Heath. So it has been a lot of fun to show him around and hear his stories.

Jason, our fun friend from Guam

We were also able to see off our friends Trevor and Sam...

... they left for a far off country (I don't know if I can state where) to immerse themselves in the culture, learn the language and both train the nationals. Trevor will help them eventually get a Bible translated into their native tongue and Sam will work on the literacy end ... wow! It has been exciting to see them work hard toward their dream and now really go! We are so proud of you two!

I also went to Palm Springs for girls weekend at the end of the month... This is the only picture I have been able to upload though. So the rest will just have to be in October's update.

We had a blast! I really needed girl time!

Heath has had a lot of time to golf, surf and fish while I have been studying, coaching, teaching and away with the girls.

He had the day off, so for a coworkers birthday went out deep sea fishing ...

... and caught a big ole shark.

Now

2006-09-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

The past month has been so busy.

I have been in school for 3 weeks. This year I am teaching three 7th grade art classes, a 7th grade Life Science class and an 8th grade Physical Science class. Amazingly, I am quite excited to be back into teaching science. Maybe it it the challenge of it, art was becoming so easy to teach. I am also working with a great team of teachers, and know I will be learning a lot!

It has been very busy being back though. I am still studying for the CA science tests. I have another one in two weeks. I think it is going to be a lot harder than the one I took in July! (Which I passed! Yeah!) And now I have to juggle studying with teaching and a bunch of other things, so I am a little more concerned about this one.

This weekend Heath and Jake are taking a trip to Mexico, to catch some of the surf a hurricane is supposedly throwing up for them. The boys are out to play, while Jess is busy getting ready to start school and I am studying for my test.

And they are off... be safe!

Picture Catch-Up and Update

2006-08-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a delicious meal after Lisa's amazing 1/2 marathon. She ran in San Diego's, Finest City's Half "Marathon. Ben and Chara, Heath and I enjoyed biking around to cheer for her.

Lisa makes me so proud! She has been and inspiration and motivation to me! She was fabulous! She looks fabulous too, this was at her 9th mile and she is gracefully acknowledging our cheering and concentrating hard on giving Heath the perfect high five.

My cousin Corey was in town, I have not seen him in about 15 years! It was exciting to meet his family. And very sweet of them to take out time on their vacation and time at Disney to meet us for dinner.

My cousin Steve was also in town back in June. We caught dinner, a walk down in La Jolla and checked out Torrey Pines golf course. It was great to hang out and catch up with him!

Our great friend Lisa, like I said above, is just fabulous! This coming Tuesday she will be leaving us to go and experience the world. She is moving to Japan for a year to teach English. Again an inspiration to me!

This is us at the beach, we cut up some food, wrapped it in foil and Heath slaved over a campfire cooking it. It was delicious!

Now, Heath is showing us how this ice cream eating art is done.

One of our favorite things to do is put on dinner parties. We were talking recently about the friendship aspect of our love. And the thing that Heath said he loves about us is that we make a great team. We think the parties we put on are so much fun... we may be a bit biased but it is something we just love to do and have so much fun! Sometime we shut the door after everyone leaves and can not wipe the smiles off our faces, we just feel so blessed to have the support system that we have here! Who knew that for the 3 years here we would have made such amazing friends... and for life! We sure do have a great collection from all over the world!

Below are a random scattering of dinner parties from the past few months (anywhere from beer can chicken to sushi to peanut butter smores on the grill)

What is it they say about 3's?

2006-07-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

Our first week back has been rough, especially on Heath!

For me, I studied everyday for 8-12 hours for a giant certification test. If I passed, I only have 2 more to take to be "No Child Left Behind" compliant and will have my official California Teaching Credential in Geoscience and Art.
Saturday I took the test, I think I did alright, I used all 5 hours.
Heath's plan during my test was to go out on a charter boat fishing...

Which brings this back to Heath and the point of this post.

#1: Thursday, Heath was going to ride his bike to work, and home...

... on the way home... thorns in the tires. (today he got his 3rd flat)

#2 Friday, Heath was going to go golfing while I studied...

... when he opened the trunk (for the first time back from vacation), he discovered that all the metal in the trunk had began to rust and ooze.

#3 Saturday, Heath was going to go fishing...

... but on the way, he got into a little fender bender... on the way home from that he was almost hit in much larger accident.

Lets just say Heath is laying low these days...
And we are shorter on cash than expected.

Last week with friends and family :(

2006-07-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

Don't we look happy together! Rachel (little red-head sis) and I have never had a problem being silly, and now I have 3 sisters to share life with. I love this whole-brothers marry great girls thing... Now Chase take your time, I am fine with 3 sisters for now. You obviously don't appear to be ready... wait is that my husband sticking out his tongue too?

The fabulous Russ and Amy Miller... They are so cute!

Chase and Heath grilling up something yummy!

It is something special when you love to be around the brother you used to get so mad at over washing the dishes and gas money.

Smiling to only show the so often missed bottom teeth... we are so silly! The only Thill reunion I experienced was with Nana and Gramps and my super fun, super cute cousin, Zoey, who drove 3 hours to see me! There was talk of celebrating Nana's 90th birthday while I was home, but it didn't work out, so... Happy birthday Nana. I'll keep laughing..."because Nana said so!"

It is always so much fun to see Jen and Elijah. He is growing so fast. So is his little brother or sister, whom I felt playing soccer or dancing or maybe Kung Fo Fighting in Mama's tummy. Wow!

I was glad to catch up with other friends as well, I just didn't get many more pictures.

She's a Professional

2006-07-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

So my little sis, is all big and professional now. We were privileged enough to enter into her new domain and partake in the specialties she offers, and in which some of us were in desperate need of ... uh um... Heath. Can you believe he is in the military with that crazy hair?

OK it doesn't look that long, I forgot to take a before picture, but notice the length and great curl on the top. At this stage it kinda looks like an 80's do.

Isn't he handsome?!

She's crazy...

...But fabulous at what she does!

If you are in GR and need a cut, color, updo, or wax, she really is amazing and needs clients being new and all.

BIG FISH

2006-07-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

Heath went fishing in the middle of the night.

Heath returned at 7:30 am with this monster.

It really is a monster-it tried to attack me.

This was the yummiest monster i have ever eaten!

Fun with the Wilhoits

2006-07-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Fabulous Rachel and Michael Wilhoit

Check out Heath's mad skiing skills

This is new for me... I actually got up on my first try and look, time 3 or something, I made it over the wake!

Michael and Rachel skied with us as well, I just don't have pics of them, but Rachel and I shared the great accomplishment of skiing around the lake a couple times as beginners!

That blur is Michael jumping from the where I am taking the picture. Those white things are huge trampolines.

That is Heath flying over Michael's head.

I don't have pictures from 4th of July at the lake with friends, beach day on Lake Michigan, the tour of Michael and Heath's childhood, or the many games of "Settlers of Catan." But as you can imagine the time spent together was wonderful!

Wilhoit Reunion: Great Fun, Great Family and Great Food

2006-07-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day!

The party was at Ma and Pa''s new house. They have done a lot of work to make it absolutely perfect! The house and the yard looked fabulous. Everyone brought delicious food! Pa and Heath were slaving over the hot grills, making 5 delicious beer-can chickens and more than enough hambugs and hot dogs. i love pot luck gatherings when there is tons of food to choose from.

It was so great to see everyone all together and from both sides of the family!

Heath's amazing beer can chickens... my favorite meal! Is there enough to feed this crowd?

Pa's got it covered. The double fisted flips. In fact, it appears he is juggling the dogs.

Herald and Heath relaxing after filling up

Lots of laughter from the O'Brien side!

Great time enjoyed by the Wilhoit side as well!

Aren't they sooooooooooo cute!

Dj's Wedding

2006-07-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

Dj and Katie and his parents

Long time friends catching up

Who is having a better time?

I am not sure if my husband is winking or sleeping.

More Miller Mania Fun!

2006-07-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

This is a lot of the Millers... we really missed those of you who couldn't make it.

Not being a part of the Miller family must be rough... the fun that follows will make you even more jealous! I must say that not only is this a "good-looking" group (as Grandpa always told us over the phone), as well as the most fun bunch in the world, they happen to also be the kindest people you will ever meet. I am proud...I can't help it.

Water balloon toss... fun and refreshing for everyone!

Chalk drawing contest... we are also artistic.

The Pink Rockers tearing up the scavenger hunt!

The kids had a blast cooling off on the slip and slide.

That is, I think, the biggest kid of all... my Heath.

Volley ball for hours, even past dark (glow in the dark ball)

Grandma even got in on the game! You go Grams!

Hoola-hoop contest... nice form Chase and Cassie!

Some card games... does anyone know why we didn't play extreme solitare?

Miller Mania

2006-07-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

The drive through the night was not bad. I was planning on sleeping and giving Heath a break; instead we talked the whole night and once we made it into Michigan and the sun was up, we took turns sleeping until we arrived in Standish, MI. The drive was supposed to take 11 hours but we did hit morning traffic it ended up 13 1/2.

We had a fun packed couple of days! We set up about 6 tents in Grandmas back yard.

Saturday evening we had a softball tournament. It was fun for me to see Heath playing with my family. (He had only met them at Russ and Amy's wedding and then our own... so it was great for them to get to know him and vice versa!)

Sunday all the major festivities began:

Bochi ball tournaments

The water balloon toss, and then water balloon war.

We had a scavenger hunt (Heath kept the crew occupied while it was being set up)

This is where the batteries in my camera died. I hope to get more pics soon!

Other highlighs include; Grandma spending the whole day with us, lots of laughs and catching up, volleyball until past dark, and our last day we took a canoe trip down the Rifle River with about 12 canoes.

It was wonderful to finally spend another Miller mania with everyone.

They Finally Meet

2006-06-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

...And the trip gets better... We finally made it to Lynchburg.

It was great to relax and catch up with great friends and finally show Heath off. We were also excited to meet Alyson’s and Shawn’s little boy Landon, he is precious!

Heath and Shawn hit it off just like Ali and I expected. So night 3 of vacation we stayed up hanging out until past 2 again... but this time on purpose.

Car update: Thacker’s referred us to their mechanic who lubed up the car and got it ready to roll. We were relieved to have it running smooth! Thanks Connie for getting us in right away! We will drive through the night tonight in hopes to avoid holiday traffic and maximize our time with everyone.

Can it get any worse?

2006-06-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

Well, so far on our vacation (24 hours) we have done a lot of waiting around (flights delayed, canceled, waiting in a 300 people line to be rerouted and receive a hotel voucher, waiting for our shuttle and a room, waiting on standby, waiting for a taxi and now …

Where to begin…

Currently we are sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. We have a flat tire, no jack, we really don’t know where we are, there are no signs, it is after midnight, for an hour and a half we have been unable to flag anyone down, we finally had to call 911 and tell them where we think we are. So again waiting.

…Ahh, I just got attacked by a beetle…they seem to like my computer light …

Desperate and afraid we were wrong about our whereabouts, I finally waved (frantically) down a 1970’s muffler-less, one tail light out and the other hanging, ratty old pick up truck. As he was backing up to meet us, Heath handed me his cell phone and said, “If anything happens to run as fast as you can deep into the forest and call 911.” As I began to panic more lights arrived on the scene and thankfully it was the cop finally, he could not/ would not help us except to call a tow truck. So this is where we are at in the story... waiting another half hour for our rescue. It should not cost anything to have him help us with the tire, but we will have to pay $95 service call…he has just now arrived.

Well that was kind of him, he led us to a hotel across from a Wal-Mart so that we can replace the tires in the morning; which we have discovered, have dry rot. We have picked up this car for a co-worker and will be driving it back to CA. At this point I am very nervous, its check engine lights are on, it does not have air conditioning or cruise control, it is full of stuff and filthier inside than out. Everything from the trunk we moved to the back seat with all our luggage when we were digging for the spare tire and jack. All we can do is laugh, can it get any crazier? I am just so thankful Heath is with me! So this will be day 2 of staying up past 2am trying to get to our destination.

Vacation to Vacation

2006-06-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

No, we are not always on vacation, we have just been away from blogspot for a couple months. You will (hopefully) no longer have to check Ben and Chara's blog to see if we are still okay.

So, we are no longer on spring Holiday...

We both enjoyed our trip,
went back to work (me at 5 different schools),
as well as, the realities of everyday life and marriage.
It has, in fact, been much better face to face, not easy, but much better!

We are excited to once again be on vacation.
Tomorrow, we leave for VA and MI for 3 weeks.

We look forward to seeing many of you again.

On Holiday

2006-04-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying our time away in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

No phones, no Internet, no noise.

It is beautiful.

We are having a lot of fun remembering how nice it is to just be together enjoying living life next to each other again. Heath was the first one to say it is like he can breath again. That is exactly how it feels for both of us; we can relax and rest and breath again.

Today, I have some time at a cafe at the bottom of Panorama Mountain Village. I will see what kind of updates and photos I can post between watching the skiers (I just saw a couple get on the lift in a suit and a long pink dress) so check previous dates for a quick catch up.

Heath is skiing one last time before we leave this beautiful country and head down to Seattle for a few days and then back home. It has rained the past couple days so the bottom of the ski area (beginner trails) is all slush and ice; up at the top (black diamond/advanced trails) they received about 5 inches of powder. So I don't mind taking a day off to let Heath have a whole day to go to the top and get his extreme sport fill.

So Much to do! So Many People to See!

2006-03-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

Since Heath has been home we have been able to hang out with so many friends. It has been great!

Saturday we had an open house BBQ…man I have missed grilled food!

Sunday our good friends Ben and Chara hooked us up with an airship tour, better known as a blimp ride.
It was amazing to see all of San Diego from the air!
I got a little queasy on the way up, but once we leveled off and I pulled myself together I was able to soak it in.

This was our ship... hard to miss!

Afterwards we went out for San Diego's best BBQ, it really was good. Then we met up with Lisa at BJ’s for a pizzooka; a warm giant cookie the size of a pizza, with a ton of ice cream melting on top. I wish I had taken a picture of this heavenly cookie.

Wednesday we had the new church I have been attending at our place for dinner. We made Aunt Tammie’s delicious Thai dinner…everyone loved it!

Friday we had dinner with our old friends from Texas, David and Katie and Jake and Jess came down form Corona. Josh joined us around midnight and all 3 fullers spent the night and all day Sat. with us. I had to work:(. But everyone else hooked up with the Cotes and went to the REI used sale and found great deals. That evening we went to Pizza Port for great pizza and a light honey ale. Again no pictures…hmm I need to work on that.

Great time with Great friends!

Heath is home!

2006-03-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

It is so wonderful to have my husband back!
Words cannot describe how amazing it is to have him home.

He arrived Saturday March 12th in the afternoon.
We hung out all weekend and whenever I could during the week.
He had the week off, and it was one of my busiest weeks of the year.
Grades were due, I started with a new group of 8th graders and finished with my elementary kids, I had many meetings and my professional development class.
(I took off Friday after things started to slow down)

We had a fun weekend!
BBQ and sangria all day Saturday with friends.
Air ship tour (blimp ride) Sunday afternoon.

Today he went back to work.
Two weeks and we will be hitting the road for our spring vacation up north.

Heath is working on a more detailed message…coming soon.

Sooner Than Expected...

2006-03-05T21:39:00.000-08:00

Heath is coming home!

He called me in the middle of the night to let me know he is coming home sooner than planned!

Now I can count the days on one hand!
(I can not post specifics)

I am so excited to have my husband back!

Please pray for his safe return.

Heath's next couple weeks

2006-02-23T22:53:00.000-08:00

Heath comes home soon! I can’t believe it is finally almost time! We have a little more than two weeks left! Life here has been flying…Thank you God!

Heaths tentative timeline:

Today he left for Qatar (I think); he gets to spend a few days getting away from work there to take a little retreat, and do things like water sports and study.

When he gets back to Kuwait he has to take his advancement test (on his birthday)

His replacement will also be there for him to train

He will move back into the tents and prepare for coming home.

Yeah!

Where Did February Go?

2006-02-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

This week I have off and the past two weeks flew by with my visitors here.

I had a great visit from my friend Jen and her little boy Elijah. They were able to extend their ticket and stay almost two weeks, which was great since I was a little under the weather the first week they were here. I had great time talking about life and marriage and my excitement for Heath's return with Jen (that is much better than being giddy with strangers) I also had a lot of fun playing with Elijah...

Who so adorably made me realize I live quite close to an airport, that or am directly under a major flight path. He is like the smartest little guy; his first understandable words include octopus and airplane. When he first got here he would go for walks with me to get the mail and when he would hear a plane he would point up and his eyes would get huge, it didn’t take long before each time he would hear one he would point up and say, “aaaaaaaaair-plane.”

He also was so good at changing the subject and talking in his own way of explaining things. So, when daily, we were unable to find yet another one of his wooden puzzle pieces we figured we were getting nowhere with him jabbering away and pointing at random things. Well, turns out he probably was telling us his exact hiding place we just didn’t understand him. Poor guy. Gosh I can’t wait until we can make sense of what he is saying.

Anyway, I was also having problems with my dishwasher and Elijah showed great interest in it, if it were open he wanted to try helping load or unload, and if it were closed he liked to lock and unlock it. So when the door started making a funny noise every time it would open or close, I started to get curious. This curiosity caused me to finally, the night before they left, examine it a little more closely, I noticed that at the hinge it appeared a floating part, which at first looked like a piece of the plastic had cracked off. But, upon further examination I noticed there were two pieces, so I stuck a knife in the whole and wow, I flipped the pieces and one was the motorcycle and the other a farm animal I cannot recall. They were inside of the door. We discovered that all seven missing pieces were carefully slid into the little slot that appears only when the door is, in fact, locked. If only he were awake to explain this to us as I sat on the floor with the drill taking my dishwasher door apart. Kids are funny!

"Hi Heath"

2006-02-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went up to Orange County with Ben and Chara to go for an air ship (blimp) ride. The weather was too overcast and visibility was poor so we just hovered a couple feet above ground waiting for it to clear up. It did not.

The rest of the day we spent with Chara's family and her adorable little niece and nephew. They are a lot of fun and love Heath. So Heath here is a little message from them.

We miss you!
I am not exactly sure how this works, I think you have to download the DivX software first.

Download the DivX Web Player Plug-In for Windows

Download the DivX Web Player Plug-In for Mac

Read more about the browser plug-in here

2 New Things I Love

2006-01-26T12:53:00.000-08:00

2 New things I love:

1. Shopping at local Farmers Markets!
Everything is so fresh.
It helps local farmers.
The produce is not sprayed with junk.
You buy what is in season. (What our bodies need)
It is a lot of fun to go with someone.

Chara and I went one sat and she showed me the ropes. Yesterday Brooke met me at the one in Carlsbad, and I found so many good buys. I even bought these tall crooked willow stalks to decorate with. I should post a picture once I arrange them; they are so cool.

2. Eating beets!
I have always disliked beets. But all I had ever tried was canned beets…yuck!

I tasted fresh beets last fall when Ryan and Holly shared the beets they received in their CSA (community supported agriculture) at one of our cookouts. I thought they were surprisingly delicious.

Well, I bought some with Chara, to see if I really did like them or if it was a one-time thing. I cooked them right up, ate the whole bunch and wanted more. I have been craving them since. So yesterday I bought two bunches, only $1 for 4 large beets. I can’t wait to cook them up! You all really should try them! I guess they are good for your kidneys…who knew?